The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
In construction technology, pullout testing generally establishes the holding force of anchors and fixings in most construction materials, such as concrete. In conventional pullout testing of anchor bolts/bars require applying a specific tensile load to an anchor bolt/bar in order that the bolt/bar can sustain such a test condition for a period of time. Deformation of the anchor tested can also be measured to understand the relationship between force and displacement during testing.
Further, the time, effort, cost, and equipment needed to conduct conventional pullout testing can be extensive and tedious, requiring skilled labor, a linear variable displacement transducer (LVDT), a data acquisition system, and hydraulic pumps with pressure gauges. Conventional material testing and quality assurance may play a pivotal role in every major construction project. Currently, for large scale projects an on-site material testing and quality assurance lab may be established. Hence, quick, reliable and effective methods and apparatuses are preferred to achieve the quantitative analysis of material strength fixed to ground.
For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional pullout apparatus 100 for pullout testing of anchor bolts/bars from a concrete structure 130. In FIG. 1, the conventional pullout apparatus 100 is attached via a weld point 120 to an anchor 125 embedded in concrete 130 or the like. Hydraulic feed lines 110 are connected to a center hold jack 115 or the like. A load cell 105 is disposed atop the center hold jack 115 with a support rod 107 which is connected to the weld point 120 and passes through load cell 105 and jack 115. Load cell 105 is connected to an output line 113 which is configured to read the load applied to anchor 125 during testing. The anchor 125 may be disposed in a concrete block or wall 130 for pullout testing purposes. The load cell 105 may be a LVDT and the output line 113 may be connected to a data acquisition system (not shown). Further, feed lines 110 may be connected to pressure gauges (not shown).